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How the cities of Oslo and Helsinki cut pedestrian deaths to zero

Several major cities in the USA, such as New York, are laudably working towards the same immensely important target, known as ‘Vision Zero’.

A three-section pedestrian crossing in Oslo, Norway.
This 3-stage pedestrian crossing in Oslo goes over four lanes of traffic and tram lines, plus a bus lane, and has two safety islands to break it all up into manageable sections. (Copyright image, 2019. All rights reserved.)

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Just a Three-Foot Gap to Pass Bicyclists is Seriously Unsafe

In the past few years, some states and cities have introduced laws that there must be a gap of at least three feet when a driver passes a cyclist.  Sadly, even cycling groups are seeing this as a good thing but yet again, very disappointingly, on this subject the USA is a long way behind the world’s leading countries in road safety.

Cyclist in traffic.
Cyclists who are passing parked cars while being passed themselves are between the proverbial rock and a hard place. If the moving vehicle comes too close,  or a car door opens, or a pedestrian steps out, it is quite likely that somebody is going to get hit and get hurt. (Copyright image, 2018.)

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